Obama touts job growth, says more is needed

Aug. 5 - President Barack Obama touted a better than expected employment report but said more needs to be done to improve the health of the U.S. labor market. Deborah Lutterbeck reports

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U.S. President Barack Obama hailed a positive jobs report Friday but said more job growth is needed as he predicted the situation will improve over time.
On Friday the Labor Department reported that 154,000 jobs were created in July and the jobless rate ticked down slightly to 9.1 percent. While this was an improvement, Obama said it wa snot enough.
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama, saying (English):
"While this marks the 17th month in a row of job growth in the private sector, nearly 2.5 million private sector jobs in all. We have to create more jobs than that each month to make up for the more than 8 million jobs that the recession claimed. We need to create a self-sustaining cycle where people are spending and companies are hiring and our economy is growing."
In a speech to American veterans Obama said the U.S. economy has faced a tumultuous year and noted markets around the globe have had a bumpy ride.
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama, saying (English):
"There is no doubt this has been a tumultuous year. We have weathered the Arab Springs effect on oil and gas prices, the japanese earthquake and tsunami's effect on supply chains, the extraordinary economic uncertainty in Europe and recently, markets around the globe have taken a bumpy ride."
But he said things would get better.
SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama, saying (English):
"We are going to get through this. Things will get better. and we're going to get there together,"
Obama said when the Congress returns to work in September, he wants lawmakers to move quickly on job-creating steps such as extending a payroll tax cut.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.